ancient greece sea travel

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Travel by Sea in Ancient Greece

Greece had limited food supplies due to the rocky and mountainous landscape. To make up for this, the Greeks produced goods to trade for food from other areas around the Mediterranean. The bulk of this food was transported by boat. For example, it is estimated that Athens imported over three-fourths of its grain at the height of its population.

Although water transportation was a great asset to the ancient Greeks, it was not without dangers. Pirating was common, especially around Delous, until the fifth century when Athens began to patrol the seas with its large navy. Even though the Mediterranean Sea was calm compared to the oceans, terrible storms were another hazard that endangered the ships and their crews. One example of a treacherous voyage was when Alexander the Great sent an expedition of 1000 ships to the Indian Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea. The crews suffered terrible seasickness, and they were exhausted from the long voyage.

Typically, ships sailed during the day and anchored at night. They would sail in sight of land and found harbors or inlets to anchor for the night. Lighthouses were established to guide ships to safe waters.

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Ancient Mariners of the Mediterranean

With 95 percent of the seafloor not yet explored, oceanographers and maritime archaeologists look to the deep waters of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas for shipwrecks that can be used to tell the story of ancient civilizations throughout the region.

Anthropology, Earth Science, Oceanography, Social Studies, Economics, World History

The study of oceanography brings many different fields of science together to investigate the ocean. Despite increased research and advances in technology , the depths of the ocean remain mostly unexplored. Archaeology is the study of human history using the material remains, or artifacts , of a culture. Artifacts help reveal a particular group’s culture, including their economies, politics, religions, technologies, and social structure. Maritime, or underwater, archaeologists study artifacts and sites submerged in lakes, rivers, and the ocean. While many land-based archaeological finds have already been studied, the ocean depths contain countless new sites and artifacts yet to be discovered.

As ancient people began to develop civilizations , or urban settlements with complex ways of life, extensive trade routes formed throughout the Mediterranean. The eastern Mediterranean and Aegean seas formed an important crossroads of trade and travel in the ancient world. By exploring shipwrecks from this region, researchers learn more about the people who lived there throughout history, as far back as 1000 B.C.E ., when Greek civilization was on the rise. Oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard works with maritime archaeologists to explore ancient shipwrecks throughout the Mediterranean. By studying these ancient wrecks, the history and culture of the region’s ancient civilizations can be better understood.

Finding and excavating ancient shipwrecks in the deep o cean requires the use of advan ced technology , including sonar and ROVs . On ce wrecks are located using sonar , ROVs with cameras are used to observe them. One way to determine the historical time period the shipwreck came from is to identify key artifacts . In the ancient world of the Mediterranean region, one such key artifact is an amphora , a clay jar that was used to transport goods like olive oil, grain, and wine. By viewing video footage captured by the ROVs , expert archaeologists observe the shape and style of the amphorae to determine approximately where and when they were used. The shape of an amphora ’s base can vary from well-rounded or barrel-shaped to conical. Its neck can appear separate from the base or as one continuous pie ce . An amphora ’s handles can fall vertically or be more rounded. The stamps and designs, such as ribbing, used on amphorae indicate different regions and time periods in which the jars and their contents came.

Using archaeological evidence, including amphorae, scientists determined that most of the shipwrecks found in the Mediterranean region are from the C.E. , being no more than 2,000 years old. That makes shipwrecks like the one Ballard’s team discovered in the deep Aegean Sea such a remarkable find. Based on the ribbed, conical-shaped amphorae from the wreck, the ship was likely transporting goods to and from the Greek island of Samos during the Archaic period of Greece (seventh century B.C.E.), says archaeologist and ceramics expert Andrei Opait. This was two hundred years before the Classical period of Greece (fifth century B.C.E.), when Plato and Socrates were living and Greek maritime power dominated the region. If Opait’s theory is correct, the wreck would be the oldest ship ever discovered in the Aegean Sea. According to Ballard, this shipwreck is just one of thousands yet to be discovered in the depths of the Mediterranean.

• The average depth of the Mediterranean Sea is 3,000 meters (9,840 feet), with its deepest point at approximately 5,000 meters (16,400 feet).
• When broken down into its Greek root words, the term “archaeology” literally means “study of the ancient,” from arkhaios, meaning ancient, and logia, meaning study of.
• The excavation of the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck off the south coast of Turkey in the 1960s was an important event for the field of maritime archaeology for three main reasons: It was the first excavation where the supervising archaeologist, George Bass, both dove to and excavated a site; it was the first time where land-based archaeological techniques were adapted for the underwater environment; and it was the first shipwreck to be entirely excavated.
• The Nautilus Expedition uses state-of-the-art remote sensing and satellite communication technology to connect researchers across the globe. These technologies allow researchers at sea aboard the E/V Nautilus to send data and high-definition images to the Inner Space Center (mission control) in Rhode Island within 1.5 seconds.

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• Jun 19, 2023

Ancient Greece: A Seafaring Empire

The ancient Greeks built ships with two particular functions in mind: for transporting goods and as a naval force at war. The coastlines provided an advantageous position to encourage the growth of trade and transportation to lands and islands beyond the Mediterranean, vastly expanding their network and resources. Equally significant in ancient Greek society, naval technology continuously advanced with the intent to protect citizens and trade routes, ultimately becoming some of the finest ships and weaponry in the history of the ancient world.

The topography of the ancient Greek mainland primarily consisted of rugged mountains and rocky soil that left little arable land, proving land travel tedious, complex, and expensive as Greek roads were rough and unpaved. Needing to look elsewhere from the terrain for economic opportunities, early civilization inhabitants crowded the Mediterranean shores (Humphrey et al., 2020). The Mediterranean Sea was critical in transportation, trade, and travel in ancient Greece. With nearly 2,000 miles of coastlines and many offshore islands, natural harbors, and inlets made sea travel the most efficient means of transporting goods and people. Sailing seasons were largely predictable, with favorable winds from the seas to encourage maritime transportation's prosperity and help stimulate trade growth (Casson, 1994). While ships and seafaring provided numerous advantages, it was seasonal and at the mercy of the weather. Most ships were laid up from early November to late March, when powerful storms and dangerous seas were frequent (Humphrey et al., 2020).

The environment of the Mediterranean allowed ships and seafaring to operate with greater ease and speed of trade. It allowed them to establish new cities that strengthened and expanded their empire. During 700-200 B.C., the Greek civilization flourished in size, population, and wealth, creating a greater need for foreign trade (Amit, 1965). As the Mediterranean topography called for sea travel, the ancient Greeks ultimately built ships for two purposes: to transport goods and for naval power in war. For this reason, great care was taken into the wood and materials used to build them to ensure safety, strength, durability, and flexibility (Casson, 1994).

All ships were made of wood and used oars and sail power. The ship's function determined its design; cargo vessels were broader and deeper, with room for goods, crew members, and passengers, while warships were long and narrow (Casson, 1994). The woods used to construct ships were primarily silver fir, fir, and Syrian cedar, as they were lighter and did not decay. Shipbuilders began with the keel, an intense beam of wood providing the primary support for the vessel that runs the length of the ship’s bottom. The keel of a cargo ship was made of fir, with a false keel of oak when hauled out, while the warship requires solid oak to withstand the stress of being hauled out to sea. The ship's outer shell was constructed of planks joined edge to edge to assemble the hull, or outer body of the ship, before inserting framing. Many ships included a layer of lead for the underwater surface of the ships to protect them from marine life and sea elements that could destroy the wood. Further, bronze fastenings were considered more practical and used for shipbuilding since they have a longer lifespan than iron and maintain their integrity underwater (Humphrey et al., 2020). Ships typically had one sizeable square sail in the middle that varied significantly in size and design, which was made of linen and occasionally reinforced with leather. Although sails were advantageous, they could not go out in lousy weather or move when the wind was calm.

The ancient Greeks overcame their dependence on favorable winds by using galleys, which were ships powered by sails and human rowers powered to operate when winds were low or came from the wrong direction. The first galleys were shallow and unsuitable for making long trips and transporting heavy loads. As Greek civilization and trade demands increased, the merchant ship was much deeper than the galley to carry as much cargo as possible. However, it moved much slower due to its considerable size. The average merchant ship was built between 100-115 feet long and could carry up to 500 tons (Casson, 1994). The number of rowers needed to propel a ship of such size would take up valuable cargo space. Therefore, most merchant ships ultimately depended on weather conditions and wind direction for the ship's speed. The galley proved most useful for short trips near the coastline, but only sailing ships had the power to move heavy loads of cargo over long distances (Humphrey, 2020).

The ancient Greeks developed an extensive trade network along the coasts of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, to the shorelines of Asia Minor and the Black Sea, and lands as far as Spain. Many goods flowed freely through the ancient world with the use of Greek shipbuilding (Casson, 1994). Ceramic vessels and cloth sacks carried wine, olive oil, food, grains, flax, luxury items, and precious metals. Ships were also built to transport stone, which was heavy and difficult to transport but was in great demand for the construction of religious, political, and public places (Harris, 2015). As the Greek civilization continued to grow and flourish, so did the need for goods, transportation, and protection.

So extensive was seaborne trade that the need for naval power increased. Building a navy was expensive for any ancient state. However, they were necessary as a robust line of defense along the coastlines in protecting trade and commerce from attack and enemy invasion. The earliest Greek navy vessels were used primarily to transport armies in a boat rowed by 50 men, with 25 oars to each side, a square rig sail, and a steering oar in the back. (Morrison, 2016). This penteconter galley could have a hull as long as 125 feet and was light as it was designed for maximum speed (Foley & Soedel, 1981). Greek naval warfare depended on developing specialized warships, as the greatest threat was being rammed by other boats in battle. As a result, the ancient Greeks built their vessels for speed, maneuverability, and as a weapon.

The most notorious specialized navy vessel was called a trireme, which had 170 rowers on three levels and featured the addition of the ram, a bronze piece designed for the front of the boat to inflict damage on other ships during battle (Rankov, 1981). The trireme could fracture and disable enemy warships by ramming into other ships. This ship was long and slender, highly maneuverable, and able to make quick turns, as agility was highly influential in battle. The trireme was built with lighter wood to assist with speed but rotted much faster than regular timber. As a result, it was hulled to shore each night to keep the hull dry when possible (Humphrey et al., 2020). Triremes were only built to accommodate the rowers and naval equipment. Therefore, it traveled relatively close to shore as the rowers had no room to sleep or provisions necessary for a large crew (Haas, 1985). Warships became increasingly crucial to the defense of the ancient Greeks, dominated by the city–state of Athens.

In 480 B.C., the Athenian fleet defeated King Xerxes of Persia in a great naval victory at the Battle of Salamis. In the first great naval battle in history, the heavily outnumbered Greeks tricked the Persian fleet into maneuvering through the straits of Salamis, a territory with which the Greeks had much experience. The Greek commander, Themistocles, ordered the triremes to attack, ramming and sinking many of the Persian vessels and boarding others to attack hands-on, ultimately defeating the Persian army in an incredible victory (Rankov et al., 2000). This battle was a turning point for Athens, beginning the city-state’s ascendency over the other sovereign states of the Aegean (Hale, 2016).

Before the Persian wars, the Greeks generally relied on private funding for the war, though it proved inadequate as they saw the need for an advanced navy out of fear of future attacks. In 478 B.C., Greek maritime states came together to form the Delian League, a powerful naval confederacy dominated by Athens, turning an alliance into an empire to protect against future attacks by the Persian empire (Larsen, 1940). The vessels of the Delian League were a single joint navy run by the allied states but primarily run by Athenian citizens and triremes as they had the strongest navy and significant funding (Pritchard, 2015). Much of Athens’ wealth was derived from the silver mines at Laurion in Attica, which was used to build the ships and fund the fleets that defeated the Persians, and went on as a source of funding for the Delian League (Humphrey et al., 2020). Athens claimed to have saved Greece against the attack of Xerxes, having had the most substantial fleet, and their position of power in the Delian League provided them with the resources to rebuild their city and remain the strongest of the allied states. Athens used their powerful navy to establish a seaborne empire that dominated the Mediterranean, remaining the greatest naval power in the Mediterranean until the conquest of Alexander the Great in the late 300s B.C. (Burke, 1978).

Ancient Greek naval technology brought maritime expertise to its peak, establishing vast trade routes that enabled the ancient society to grow and flourish to coastlines far beyond. Designing ships capable of transporting large and heavy loads of cargo, the ancient Greeks built a network of goods and resources that allowed them to acquire more territory and power on lands and brought naval technology to a level of sophistication that was more advanced than any contemporary culture or civilization.

Bibliographical References

Amit, M. (1965). Athens and the Sea: A Study in Athenian Sea Power . Belgium: Latomus, revue d'études latines.

Burke, E. M. (1978). The Greeks At War In the Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C. Military Affairs , 42 (3), 142–143. https://doi.org/10.2307/1987254

Casson, L. (1994). Ships and Seafaring in Ancient Times . London: British Museum Press.

Foley, V., & Soedel, W. (1981). Ancient Oared Warships. Scientific American , 244 (4), 148–163. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24964389

Haas, C. J. (1985). Athenian Naval Power before Themistocles. Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte , 34 (1), 29–46. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4435909

Hale, J. R. (1996). The Lost Technology of Ancient Greek Rowing. Scientific American , 274 (5), 82–85. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24989529

Harris, E. M., Lewis, D. M., & Woolmer, M. (Eds.) (2015). The Ancient Greek Economy: Markets, Households and City-States . Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139565530

Humphrey, J. W., Nikolic, M., Sherwood, A. N., Oleson, J. P. (2020). Greek and Roman Technology: A Sourcebook of Translated Greek and Roman Texts. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis Group.

Larsen, J. A. O. (1940). The Constitution and Original Purpose of the Delian League. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology , 51 , 175–213. https://doi.org/10.2307/310927

Morrison, J. (2016). Greek and Roman Oared Warships 399-30BC . United Kingdom: Oxbow Books.

Pritchard, D. M. (2015). Public finance and war in Ancient Greece . Greece & Rome , 62 (1), 48–59 . http://www.jstor.org/stable/43297511

Rankov, N. B., Morrison, J. S., Coates, J. F. (2000). The Athenian Trireme: The History and Reconstruction of an Ancient Greek Warship. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Maritime Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean

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Maritime Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean by Justin Leidwanger , Elizabeth S. Greene LAST REVIEWED: 25 September 2019 LAST MODIFIED: 25 September 2019 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0339

Maritime archaeology of the classical world explores the traders, travelers, pirates, fishermen, and warriors who sailed the ancient Mediterranean and its adjacent waters. Within the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, the sea and the distinctive opportunities it afforded for communication and interaction feature centrally to narratives of human development. Evidence for the socioeconomic world of seafaring comes not only from archaeological analysis of coastal and submerged sites, but also from literary and iconographic depictions of vessels, seafaring practices, and maritime life more broadly. From a methodological perspective, maritime archaeology involves survey and excavation both underwater and along the shore, focusing on shipwrecks, ports and harbors, inundated landscapes, as well as formerly submerged but now silted sites. These explorations require the adoption and adaptation of traditional archaeological practices alongside methods that borrow from the marine sciences. Maritime archaeology took hold early in the Mediterranean, where it owes its roots to the scientific exploration of ancient ships and harbors as some of the most sophisticated technologies among premodern societies. After more than a half century of focused explorations and detailed analyses, scholars have outlined diachronic development and regional patterns of Mediterranean shipbuilding techniques and seafaring practices. At the same time, survey work in recent decades has rapidly increased the bulk dataset while bringing new shores and deeper waters into the evolving picture of maritime connections. The vast numbers of shipwrecks recorded to date reveal long-term trends across the entire Mediterranean world; the prevalence of sunken merchant cargos and diverse ports allows increasingly sophisticated approaches to this data as a source for big-picture social and economic history. Along with the reconstruction of trade routes, networks of interaction and dynamic maritime landscapes have earned important places in this ongoing research. Increasing emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches that engage with earth sciences (geoarchaeology, oceanography, etc.) and social sciences (network science, economic theory, etc.) brings new tools for understanding an environmental and institutional context of the structure, scale, and drivers behind seaborne mobility and interaction. All the while, the intensely studied material remains of ventures lost at sea continue to offer unparalleled glimpses into the personal lives of the diverse individuals who integrated this ancient Mediterranean world through the goods, news, ideas, and values they carried from port to port.

Introductory works provide a sweeping chronological overview of ship and seafaring technologies, including maritime techniques, peoples, activities, and goods that moved across the ancient world, based on combined literary, historical, iconographic, and archaeological evidence. The dramatic increase over the past fifty years in archaeological approaches to ancient ships and harbors has shifted the balance in recent work toward ever more reliance on excavated and well-studied contexts, but interdisciplinary approaches remain critical for appreciating the breadth of maritime activity that marked the ancient Mediterranean. Casson 1995 remains the comprehensive treatment of the classical maritime world in English, while Casson 1991 , Carlson 2011 , and McGrail 2014 offer readable overviews of varying lengths. Morrison 1995 focuses specifically on naval warfare and galleys. Pomey 1997 , Gianfrotta and Pomey 1981 , and Bockius 2007 offer reliable coverage of these themes in French, Italian, and German respectively.

Bockius, Ronald. 2007. Schifffahrt und Schiffbau in der Antike . Stuttgart: Theiss.

Accessible and well-illustrated survey, starting from the earliest evidence for seafaring but with a strong emphasis on the Roman world. Regional coverage of Europe beyond the Mediterranean allows inclusion of archaeological and iconographic examples of vessel types (e.g., barges) that were vital to transport along the rivers of Europe but are often left out of Mediterranean-focused Roman maritime studies.

Carlson, Deborah N. 2011. The seafarers and shipwrecks of ancient Greece and Rome. In The Oxford handbook of maritime archaeology . Edited by A. Catsambis, B. Ford, and D. L. Hamilton, 379–405. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

Succinct overview of Greco-Roman ships and seafaring, situated within the developmental trajectory of the discipline and challenges facing maritime archaeology in the ancient Mediterranean context. Discusses major types of cargos, ship construction and outfitting, as well as merchant, naval, and river craft.

Casson, Lionel. 1991. The ancient mariners: Seafarers and sea fighters of the Mediterranean in ancient times . Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.

Engaging (if now somewhat dated) narrative on ancient seafaring, useful particularly for diachronic background. Archaeological, iconographic, literary, and historical evidence are woven together to paint a picture of life at sea among merchants, travelers, warriors, and pilgrims from their earliest traces through the end of antiquity. Limited black-and-white illustrations and bibliography.

Casson, Lionel. 1995. Ships and seamanship in the ancient world . 2d ed. Baltimore: John Hopkins Univ. Press.

Authoritative and comprehensive introduction to ancient seafaring, providing a good starting point for most major topics ranging from warships and merchantmen to sailing practices and crew life, vessel logistics and equipment. Includes a balanced consideration of primarily iconographic and literary/historical data supplemented with some key archaeological evidence, plus extensive references and indices. Originally published 1971 (Princeton University Press).

De Souza, Philip, and Pascal Arnaud, eds. 2017. The sea in history: The ancient world (La mer dans l’historie: l’antiquité) . Woodbridge, UK: Boydell & Brewer.

Large collection of up-to-date essays (in English and French) addressing the role of the sea in ancient life. Covers prehistory through Antiquity across the globe. Individual chapters address comparative periods and regions (e.g., Indian Ocean and Far East) from an ancient Mediterranean vantage point. Chapters also online via JSTOR .

Gianfrotta, Piero Alfredo, and Patrice Pomey. 1981. Archeologia subacquea: storia, tecniche, socperte e relitti . Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori.

A classic (if now somewhat dated) illustrated work exploring the development and techniques of underwater archaeology in the Mediterranean. Draws on ancient shipwrecks as case studies for understanding maritime commerce and ship construction technology. A final section addresses submerged structures, while an appendix offers a detailed register of wrecks discussed, a brief overview of underwater archaeology beyond the classical world, and a helpful glossary.

McGrail, Seán. 2014. Early ships and seafaring: European water transport . Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword Archaeology.

Basic overview of the construction and use of early ships in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Europe (to CE 1500) focused on vessel types, propulsion, steering, and environmental conditions (wind, tides, currents, landmarks, harbors, landing places). Includes archaeological, ethnographic, and experimental evidence, as well as basic glossary and useful diagrams. Discussion of Egypt and the Near East can be found in the companion volume by the same author ( Early ships and seafaring: Water transport beyond Europe . Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword Archaeology, 2015).

Morrison, John, ed. 1995. The age of the galley: Mediterranean oared vessels since pre-classical times . London: Conway Maritime Press.

Accessible introduction to the development and use of oared vessels in the Mediterranean from prehistory through the medieval era. Individually authored chapters focus on the naval fleets of specific periods as well as oared merchantmen, naval installations, mechanics of oar power, logistics, and economics. Includes black-and-white illustrations throughout, as well as bibliography and glossary.

Pomey, Patrice, ed. 1997. La navigation dans l’antiquité . Aix-en-Provence, France: Edisud.

Succinct and engaging introduction to Mediterranean classical seafaring. Chapters by Pomey and other prominent scholars address navigation (seas, winds, currents), vessel types and shipboard life, ports and the mechanisms of commerce, and a well-curated selection of wrecks and cargos from a broad geographic, chronological, and typological span. Includes helpful illustrations (many in color) and diagrams, basic bibliography, and glossary of terms.

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On Crete, New Evidence of Very Ancient Mariners

By John Noble Wilford

• Feb. 15, 2010

Early humans, possibly even prehuman ancestors, appear to have been going to sea much longer than anyone had ever suspected.

That is the startling implication of discoveries made the last two summers on the Greek island of Crete. Stone tools found there, archaeologists say, are at least 130,000 years old, which is considered strong evidence for the earliest known seafaring in the Mediterranean and cause for rethinking the maritime capabilities of prehuman cultures.

Crete has been an island for more than five million years, meaning that the toolmakers must have arrived by boat. So this seems to push the history of Mediterranean voyaging back more than 100,000 years, specialists in Stone Age archaeology say. Previous artifact discoveries had shown people reaching Cyprus, a few other Greek islands and possibly Sardinia no earlier than 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.

The oldest established early marine travel anywhere was the sea-crossing migration of anatomically modern Homo sapiens to Australia, beginning about 60,000 years ago. There is also a suggestive trickle of evidence, notably the skeletons and artifacts on the Indonesian island of Flores, of more ancient hominids making their way by water to new habitats.

Even more intriguing, the archaeologists who found the tools on Crete noted that the style of the hand axes suggested that they could be up to 700,000 years old. That may be a stretch, they conceded, but the tools resemble artifacts from the stone technology known as Acheulean, which originated with prehuman populations in Africa.

More than 2,000 stone artifacts, including the hand axes, were collected on the southwestern shore of Crete, near the town of Plakias, by a team led by Thomas F. Strasser and Eleni Panagopoulou. She is with the Greek Ministry of Culture and he is an associate professor of art history at Providence College in Rhode Island. They were assisted by Greek and American geologists and archaeologists, including Curtis Runnels of Boston University.

Dr. Strasser described the discovery last month at a meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America . A formal report has been accepted for publication in Hesparia, the journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, a supporter of the fieldwork.

The Plakias survey team went in looking for material remains of more recent artisans, nothing older than 11,000 years. Such artifacts would have been blades, spear points and arrowheads typical of Mesolithic and Neolithic periods.

“We found those, then we found the hand axes,” Dr. Strasser said last week in an interview, and that sent the team into deeper time.

“We were flummoxed,” Dr. Runnels said in an interview. “These things were just not supposed to be there.”

Word of the find is circulating among the ranks of Stone Age scholars. The few who have seen the data and some pictures — most of the tools reside in Athens — said they were excited and cautiously impressed. The research, if confirmed by further study, scrambles timetables of technological development and textbook accounts of human and prehuman mobility.

Ofer Bar-Yosef, an authority on Stone Age archaeology at Harvard, said the significance of the find would depend on the dating of the site. “Once the investigators provide the dates,” he said in an e-mail message, “we will have a better understanding of the importance of the discovery.”

Dr. Bar-Yosef said he had seen only a few photographs of the Cretan tools. The forms can only indicate a possible age, he said, but “handling the artifacts may provide a different impression.” And dating, he said, would tell the tale.

Dr. Runnels, who has 30 years’ experience in Stone Age research, said that an analysis by him and three geologists “left not much doubt of the age of the site, and the tools must be even older.”

The cliffs and caves above the shore, the researchers said, have been uplifted by tectonic forces where the African plate goes under and pushes up the European plate. The exposed uplifted layers represent the sequence of geologic periods that have been well studied and dated, in some cases correlated to established dates of glacial and interglacial periods of the most recent ice age. In addition, the team analyzed the layer bearing the tools and determined that the soil had been on the surface 130,000 to 190,000 years ago.

Dr. Runnels said he considered this a minimum age for the tools themselves. They include not only quartz hand axes, but also cleavers and scrapers, all of which are in the Acheulean style. The tools could have been made millenniums before they became, as it were, frozen in time in the Cretan cliffs, the archaeologists said.

Dr. Runnels suggested that the tools could be at least twice as old as the geologic layers. Dr. Strasser said they could be as much as 700,000 years old. Further explorations are planned this summer.

The 130,000-year date would put the discovery in a time when Homo sapiens had already evolved in Africa, sometime after 200,000 years ago. Their presence in Europe did not become apparent until about 50,000 years ago.

Archaeologists can only speculate about who the toolmakers were. One hundred and thirty thousand years ago, modern humans shared the world with other hominids, like Neanderthals and Homo heidelbergensis. The Acheulean culture is thought to have started with Homo erectus.

The standard hypothesis had been that Acheulean toolmakers reached Europe and Asia via the Middle East, passing mainly through what is now Turkey into the Balkans. The new finds suggest that their dispersals were not confined to land routes. They may lend credibility to proposals of migrations from Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain. Crete’s southern shore where the tools were found is 200 miles from North Africa.

“We can’t say the toolmakers came 200 miles from Libya,” Dr. Strasser said. “If you’re on a raft, that’s a long voyage, but they might have come from the European mainland by way of shorter crossings through Greek islands.”

But archaeologists and experts on early nautical history said the discovery appeared to show that these surprisingly ancient mariners had craft sturdier and more reliable than rafts. They also must have had the cognitive ability to conceive and carry out repeated water crossing over great distances in order to establish sustainable populations producing an abundance of stone artifacts.

How Did the Seas Influence Ancient Greece?

The seas have played a significant role in shaping the history of ancient Greece. The country’s geography has always been dominated by the Aegean and Ionian seas, which have influenced its economy, culture, and politics. Let’s explore how the seas have impacted ancient Greece.

The Economy

The seas were essential to the Greek economy as they provided valuable resources such as fish and salt. The Greeks were skilled sailors and fishermen, and they used their expertise to establish trade routes that extended as far as Egypt, Italy, and Spain. This trade allowed them to acquire goods such as timber, metals, and textiles from other countries in exchange for their own products.

The Greeks also used their knowledge of the seas to develop naval power. They built sturdy ships that could withstand rough waters and used them to protect their trading routes from pirates. These ships also enabled them to establish colonies in distant lands such as Sicily and southern Italy.

The Culture

The seas had a profound impact on the Greek culture. The Greeks believed that the sea was home to many gods who controlled its unpredictable nature. Therefore, they developed a deep respect for the seas and incorporated it into their mythology.

The sea also played a significant role in Greek art. Many famous Greek sculptures depict sea creatures such as dolphins and seahorses. Greek pottery often featured images of ships sailing on rough waters or sea battles between mythical creatures.

The Politics

The seas had a significant impact on Greek politics, especially during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. Athens relied heavily on its naval power, which allowed it to dominate smaller city-states that could not match its naval strength. However, Sparta eventually emerged victorious due to its superior land-based army.

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Ancient Greece’s Biggest Port Is Older Than We Thought

Archaeological discoveries add 500 years to the history of Corinth’s main harbor

J. Besl, Hakai

This article is from Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com .

In the ancient Mediterranean, Corinth was an economic powerhouse. Built on a narrow isthmus—a natural choke point between north and south—the city controlled trade between northern Greece and the Peloponnese Peninsula. Bound on either side by naturally protected bays, Corinth was also a convenient bridge between the Aegean and Ionian Seas.

The city’s main harbor, located along the Gulf of Corinth, was the largest port in ancient Greece. In previous work, archaeologists examining gravesites and historical documents revealed that merchants sailed from the port, known as Lechaion, more than 2,600 years ago, in the seventh century B.C.E. They did so in ships likely loaded with pottery, perfume, food and fabrics to trade across the region.

But a recent discovery —five lumps of brown coal and a helping of ancient lead pollution—has pushed the history of this pivotal port back by at least 500 years, making it one of the earliest active ports in Europe . The revised history stems from an international research effort that’s been surveying the ancient harbor since 2013.

Using hand augers and mechanical drills, French geoarchaeologist Antoine Chabrol of Sorbonne University in France and his colleagues carefully collected cylinders of sediment from the inner harbor, where boats would have pulled upriver to anchor. Analyzing the mud cores, they found a sudden spike in lead levels less than ten feet deep. The shift is so sharp and sustained that it could only have been caused by human activity on the riverbanks, says Chabrol.

Lead pollution comes from smelting, mining and metalwork, and the scientists dated the pollution in the port to as early as 1381 B.C.E.—3,405 years ago—during the Bronze Age.

The five chunks of brown coal, each no bigger than a matchbox, add further evidence of the port’s antiquity. These fragments are a specific kind of coal called lignite, and the pieces collected from the harbor’s sediment date to as early as 1122 B.C.E. The nearest known source of lignite is more than 30 miles away, suggesting merchants were importing the fossil fuel nuggets to stoke their harborside furnaces by the 12th century B.C.E.

Bronze Age ships might have paddled from port carrying urns of olive oil, bulk bins of fruit and narrow-necked jars of wine to Crete, Cyprus and beyond. But so far, while the team has found convincing evidence of Bronze Age activity in Corinth’s port, they’ve yet to find pieces of the actual port from this era. The physical evidence found at the site so far—including stone piers , wooden pillars and a possible lighthouse —dates to the first century C.E . or later, during the Roman period .

But even without physical Bronze Age structures, the findings show that Corinth’s port was used consistently for nearly 2,600 years. From the 13th century B.C.E. to the 13th century C.E., Mycenaean, Phoenician, Roman and Byzantine ships would have sailed from this strategic location.

“You can detect their presence in one single site,” says Panagiotis Athanasopoulos, an archaeologist at Greece’s Danish Institute at Athens and a collaborator on the project. “It’s like the very essence of historical continuity.”

Incredibly, though, even this revised age might be an underestimate. Archaeologists have previously found evidence of people traveling through Corinth more than 8,000 years ago , as well as pots from a late Stone Age culture that lived to the northwest, along the Adriatic Sea. Bjørn Lovén, co-director of the Lechaion Harbor Project and co-author of the new paper, says this suggests Corinth’s maritime trade network may extend even deeper into history.

Nafsika Andriopoulou, a geoarchaeologist at the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas’ Institute for Mediterranean Studies in Greece who was not involved in the study, says a broader analysis of what metals might be in the soil could help fill in even more details. For example, tracking other metals—such as copper, the main component of bronze—could tell geoarchaeologists even more about the port’s early uses. Similar sampling in nearby locations could even help reveal ancient trading routes, Andriopoulou adds.

The team will continue their work during the summer of 2024, looking for more clues of ancient commerce and bringing renewed activity to this long-bustling port.

This article is from Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at  hakaimagazine.com .

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Ancient Greece

• 1.1 Greek heritage
• 2.1 Mainland Greece
• 2.2 Greek Islands
• 2.5 Bulgaria
• 2.6 Romania
• 2.8 Georgia

Ancient Greece or Classical Greece was a civilization which emerged around the 8th century BC, and was annexed by the Roman Empire in the second century BC. Ancient Greece is remembered for its architecture, philosophy and other ideas, which became the foundation of modern Europe . The Olympic Games are originally an ancient Greek tradition.

Understand [ edit ]

Classical Greece was not the first civilization around the Aegean Sea. Since the 27th century BC, the Minoan culture had flourished on Crete, until displaced by the Mycenaeans around the 16th century BC. They left behind plenty of artifacts, but the only legible written records known to posterity was the cryptic Linear B script.

The first written records from the Greek city-states, poleis , date to the 9th century BC. Among them are the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems describing the Trojan War , supposedly fought in the 12th century BC, and part of the Greek foundation myth. The Graeco-Roman mythology is part of the oldest European literature, with a pantheon later adopted by the Roman Empire.

The period of the 5th and 4th centuries are today known as Classical Greece . During this period, the Greeks defended themselves against the mighty Persian Empire in a series of wars which became legendary in Western culture. Greece later entered a golden age for philosophy, drama, and science. Through colonization and conquest, Greek language and culture came to stretch far beyond the territory of modern Greece , with especially strong footprints in Sicily and across Asia Minor (today, the Asian part of Turkey ). In Ancient Greece's apogee, the dominant cities of Greece were Athens and Sparta , which often were at war against each other.

Starting with the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, the Greek culture spread as far east as modern-day Afghanistan, and Egypt was ruled for three centuries by the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty, which was founded by one of Alexander's generals. This late bloom of Greek culture, which was later partially supplanted by the Roman Empire , is known as the Hellenic era.

According to the Biblical book of Acts, the Apostle Paul traveled to the region in the 1st century AD and brought Christianity to the area.

Greek heritage [ edit ]

Some elements of Greek culture endured for centuries after the last Greek polity had disappeared. For instance Coptic, the language that Ancient Egyptian evolved into, was written in Greek-derived letters until it died out as a vernacular in the 17th century; Coptic still survives as a liturgical language for Egyptian Christians . Other examples include Greek authors and philosophers, such as Homer and Socrates, that were and are still widely read among a certain subset of Europeans. Greek terms have entered the general lexicon of many European languages including English, mostly relating to things the Greeks were known for (theatre, politics, democracy) or scientific terms. Sometimes Greek and Latin terms have been mixed, such as in the case of "automobile" which derives from Greek "autos" (~self) and Latin "mobilis" (~movable, moving). For these reasons and the fact that the Christian New Testament was written in Ancient Greek, Ancient Greek is still taught in many secondary schools and universities throughout Europe. The Roman Empire held Greek culture in high regard, particularly in the eastern parts, and Greek was a co-official language alongside Latin in the Roman Empire.

Although in modern times the Greek alphabet itself is only used to write Greek (and the individual letters as symbols in maths and science), the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets that are used by many other European languages were originally derived from the Greek alphabet. The very word "alphabet" is also derived from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet (alpha and beta) and its importance in being the first known phonetic script, a script to encode all vowel and consonant sounds (as opposed to other scripts that only encoded consonants or had ideographic and/or syllabic aspects), cannot be overstated.

The Byzantine Empire survived as a bastion of Greek heritage until it fell in 1453. Some Byzantine scholars moved west, and contributed to the Italian Renaissance . From the 17th century, the Grand Tour became a customary voyage where north Europeans visited the Greek ruins in southern Italy. Over time, tourism expanded to Greece proper.

Greece became independent from the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s, adopting a monarchical constitution largely on the urging of the Great Powers of Europe, and initially enthroning a Bavarian Wittelsbach prince, hence the – still used – blue and white colors of the Greek flag.

Destinations [ edit ]

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were listed in some of the earliest guides for travellers, written in Greek a few centuries BCE.

Mainland Greece [ edit ]

• 37.9667 23.7167 1 Athens ( Attica ). One of the most important poleis in Ancient Greece, Athens was a naval power and a center of learning and philosophy. While it was eventually surpassed militarily by Sparta and Thebes, its immense wealth meant that some of its classical architecture is still standing. Due in part to its history Athens later became the capital of modern Greece.  
• 37.6167 22.7167 2 Argos ( Peloponnese ). Major stronghold during the Mycenaean era, this city may be older than Mycenae itself. In classical times was a powerful rival of Sparta for dominance over the Peloponnese. Nowadays, there are still several interesting remains, among them a ruined temple to goddess Hera. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 39.15863 20.98764 3 Arta ( Epirus ). Historic capital of Epirus, famously associated with King Pyrrhus, opponent of the Roman Republic, after whom the phrase "Pyrrhic victory" was coined. There's an extensive archeological site, with ancient walls, the ruins of a temple of Apollo, a small theatre, among other things. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 37.9333 22.9333 4 Corinth ( Peloponnese ). One of the largest and most important cities of Classical Greece, with a population of 90,000 in 400 BC. In classical times and earlier, Corinth had a temple of Aphrodite and rivaled Athens and Thebes in wealth. ( updated Sep 2015 )
• 38.483333 22.5 5 Delphi ( Sterea Hellada ). Famously nested on a shoulder of Mount Parnassus, Delphi was believed to be determined by Zeus when he sought to find the omphalos (navel) of his "Grandmother Earth" (Ge, Gaea, or Gaia). Site of the Apollo cult, oracle, and eternal flame. ( updated Jun 2015 )
• 39.546415 20.788211 6 Dodona ( about 6 km southwest of Ioannina , Epirus ). The oldest recorded Hellenic oracle. There's a well preserved theater, built by King Pyrrhus, a must-see, which hosts theatrical performances. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 39.641667 22.416667 7 Larissa ( Thessaly ). Historic Thessalian capital; the name means "stronghold" in ancient Greek. One of the oldest settlements in Greece, with artifacts uncovered dating at least the Neolithic period (6000 BC) and two ancient theaters, one Greek, the other Roman. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 40.085556 22.358611 8 Mount Olympos ( Thessaly ). The highest mountain in Greece (2917 m), the abode of the Gods. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 38.15 23.95 9 Marathon ( Attica ). Site of the famous battle against the Persians, 490 BC, and starting point of the First modern Olympiad's eponymous foot race, 1896. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 37.730833 22.75611 10 Mycenae ( Peloponnese ). Royal seat of Agamemnon, High King of the Greeks and undisputed leader of the anti-Trojan coalition, according to the Iliad . Its prominence from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC was such that it lends its name to this period of Greek history, habitually referred to as "Mycenaean". Its acropolis, continuously inhabited from the Early Neolithic onwards, in Roman times had already become a tourist attraction.  
• 37.566667 22.8 11 Nafplio ( Peloponnese ). Said to have been founded by and named after the Argonaut Nauplios, father of Palamidis who fought in the Trojan War, this town is a good base to head out to the numerous archeological sites surrounding it. UNESCO World Heritage sites Epidaurus with its gorgeous theater, Tiryns the Mighty-Walled (Homer's words), and Mycenae are just some of them. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 37.638 21.63 12 Olympia ( Peloponnese ). Site of the original Olympic Games and the Temple of Zeus. Hosted the shot put event in the 2004 Olympic Games - the very first time women athletes competed in the venue.  
• 37.952 23.6358 13 Piraeus ( Attica ). Athenian harbor from time immemorial, still is the Greek capital's chief point of entry and exit by sea. There's a nice archeological museum here. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 40.754669 22.52105 14 Pella ( Central Macedonia ). Alexander the Great 's Macedonian capital and birthplace. In 168 BC, it was sacked by the Romans, and its treasury transported to Rome. Nowadays it's a rich archeological site. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 36.916667 21.7 15 Pylos ( Peloponnese ). The "Sandy Pylos" mentioned very often in both the Iliad and the Odyssey , home to King Nestor, eldest of Agamemnon's advisers. The remains of the so-called "Palace of Nestor" have been excavated nearby. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 37.081944 22.423611 16 Sparta ( Peloponnese ). Even contemporaries agreed, that Athens would be perceived to have been much more important than Sparta. This is mostly because the Spartan society was very militaristic and invested in war rather than monuments or temples. A famous quote sums up the Spartan attitude towards building, even if for war: "Sparta has no walls. The Spartans are the wall of Sparta"  
• 38.316667 23.316667 17 Thebes ( Central Greece ). From time immemorial, this city is featured in an abundant mass of legends which rival the myths of Troy. In Classical times, it was largest city of the ancient region of Boeotia, the leader of the Boeotian confederacy, and a major rival of Athens. It sided with the Persians during the 480 BC invasion, and formed a firm alliance with Sparta during the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC). The modern city contains an archaeological museum, the remains of the Cadmea pre-Mycenaean citadel, and scattered ancient remains. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 38.805278 22.562778 18 Thermopylae ( Central Greece ). The battlefield where King Leonidas and his 300 Lacedaemonians made their stand against the Persian army, immortalized in song, prose, comics and movies, in 480 BC. Today it's bisected by a highway, and right beside it, are the Spartans' burial mound, with a plaque containing the famous epitaph by Simonides: Ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι. ("Go tell the Spartans, passerby, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie.") and a statue of Leonidas, under which an inscription reads laconically: Μολὼν λαβέ ("Come and take them!" — his answer to Xerxes' demand that the Greeks give up their weapons). ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 39.3667 22.9333 19 Volos ( Thessaly ). Identified with Iolkos , the alleged birthplace of mythical hero Jason, leader of the Argonauts. Features several archeological sites nearby. ( updated Feb 2016 )

Greek Islands [ edit ]

• 37.74 23.44 20 Aegina . The famous Aegina Treasure (between 1700 and 1500 BC), now in the British Museum, came from this island. There stand the remains of three Greek temples. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 39.583333 19.866667 21 Corfu ( Corcyra, Korkyra ). An island bound up with the history of Greece from the beginnings of Greek mythology. Famous sights, like the cave where Jason and Medea were married ( Argonautica ), or the beach where Ulysses met Nausicaa ( Odyssey ), remain very popular tourist attractions. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 37.393333 25.271111 22 Delos . This island, the alleged birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, was already a holy sanctuary for a millennium before the establishment of this piece of Olympian Greek mythology; a very significant archaeological site. ( updated Jun 2015 )
• 35.333 25.1333 23 Heraklion ( Crete ). Known in ancient times as Knossos ; the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture (3650 to 1400 BC).  
• 36.89476 27.29093 24 Kos . Famously associated with native-born physician Hippocrates of Kos, the "Father of Western Medicine". Major historic attractions include the Asklepeion sanctuary, where he most probably studied, and the Platanus tree under which he taught his pupils the art of medicine. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 36.0833 28.0833 25 Lindos ( Rhodes ). Beautiful hilltop town with a nice acropolis archeological site. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 39.1 26.55 26 Mytilene ( Lesbos ). The historic capital of Lesbos island was briefly the home of master philosopher Aristotle. The island was also the home of Sappho, who is famous for her poetry with homoerotic features, which gave rise to the term 'lesbian' after the island's name. Nowadays, there is more than one archeological museum worth visiting. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 37.05 25.483333 27 Naxos . Herodotus describes Naxos circa 500 BC as the most prosperous of all the Greek islands. According to Greek mythology, the young Zeus was raised in Mt. Zas's cave. Besides some nice ruined temples to Apollo and Demeter, the island is considered as perfect for windsurfing, as well as kitesurfing. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 37.75 26.8333 28 Samos . Birthplace of Pythagoras, the famous mathematician. Features the remains of a once-famous sanctuary to goddess Hera.  
• 40.4833 25.5167 29 Samothrace . Site of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods , the centre of a mystery cult that rivaled Delos and Delphi. Here was unearthed the Victory of Samothrace statue, a highlight of the Louvre.  

Italy [ edit ]

• 37.316667 13.583333 30 Agrigento ( Sicily ). Site of the ancient Greek city of Akragas (Ἀκράγας), famous for its seven monumental Greek temples in the Doric style, constructed during the 6th and 5th centuries BC. Now excavated and partially restored, they constitute some of the largest and best-preserved ancient Greek buildings outside of Greece itself. ( updated Sep 2015 )
• 40.633333 17.933333 31 Brindisi ( Apulia ). Allegedly founded by King Diomedes of Argos, after he lost his route back home from the siege of Troy. Its name comes from the Greek Brentesion (Βρεντήσιον) meaning "deer's head", which refers to the shape of its natural harbor. Some columns, most likely from the Roman period, still stand. ( updated Sep 2015 )
• 40.848611 14.053611 32 Cumae ( Campania ). Kumai (Κύμαι) was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy, founded by settlers from Euboea, allegedly led by the legendary gadget-maker Daedalus, in the 8th century BC. It's most famous as the seat of the Cumaean Sibyl, a priestess of Apollo with prophetic powers, very respected and consulted among the Romans. Her sanctuary is open to visitors. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 38.036944 12.586389 33 Erice ( Sicily ). Ancient Eryx (Eρυξ) is today a gorgeous hilltop destination, where less than 500 people live close to a mediaeval fortification ("Venus Castle", built on the foundations of a temple to Aphrodite) on top of the 715 m high Mount Eryx. Local tradition places the lair of cyclops Polyphemus, Ulysses' foe in the Odyssey , on the side of this mountain. The town itself has wonderful views. There's a cable car that comes up from Trapani to the hilltop. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 37.0667 14.25 34 Gela ( Sicily ). founded around 688 BC by colonists from Rhodes and Crete; playwright Aeschylos, the "father of tragedy", died in this city in 456 BC.  
• 40.419667 15.005028 35 Paestum ( Campania ). Widely considered to have the best and most extensive ancient Greek relics in the former Magna Graecia. ( updated Sep 2015 )
• 38.111389 15.661944 36 Reggio di Calabria ( Calabria ). A Greek colony at first, under the name Rhégion (Ῥήγιον, "Cape of the King"), Reggio is home to the National Archaeological Museum of Magna Græcia, one of the most important archaeological museums of Italy. ( updated Sep 2015 )
• 37.9333 12.8333 37 Segesta ( Sicily ). Said to have been founded by Trojan refugees, welcomed by the Elymians, right after the end of the Trojan War, Segesta is home to a beautiful Greek theater and an unusually well preserved Doric temple. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 37.5833 12.8167 38 Selinunte ( Sicily ). Its Greek name was Selinous (Σελινοῦς). Features an extensive acropolis archeological site with several temples, one of which has been reconstructed. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 37.0833 15.2833 39 Syracuse ( Sicily ). Famously besieged by an Athenian expedition (415-413 BC) during the Peloponnesian War. The siege was a failure and spelled the doom of the Athenian hegemony over the Greek world. It's also the birthplace of Archimedes, the famous philosopher and mathematician.  
• 40.466667 17.233333 40 Taranto ( Apulia ). Taras (Τάρας) was founded as a Spartan colony. The modern city has been built over the Greek city; a few ruins remain, including part of the city wall, two temple columns dating to the 6th century BC, and tombs. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 38.016667 12.516667 41 Trapani ( Sicily ). Founded as early as the 13th century BC, as Drepanon (Δρέπανον), by the same Greeks who called themselves the Elymian people and also founded Erice and Segesta. Recent scholarship formulates the hypothesis that princess Nausicaa, a highlighted character of the Odyssey , is the real author of the epic poem, and was born and raised in Drepanon - refer to Homeric translator Samuel Butler's The Authoress of the Odyssey and novelist Robert Graves' Homer's Daughter for further details. ( updated Feb 2016 )

Turkey [ edit ]

• 37.708333 28.723611 42 Aphrodisias ( Southern Aegean ). Site of the Temple of Aphrodite. Now it's one of the best preserved ancient cities in Turkey, and without the usual crowds of Ephesus. ( updated Sep 2015 )
• 39.487778 26.336944 43 Assos ( Northern Aegean ). The Doric order columns of the hilltop Temple of Athena here are the only one of this type on the Asian mainland. Assos was also the site of the academy established by philosopher Aristotle. ( updated Oct 2015 )
• 39.1167 27.1833 44 Bergama ( Northern Aegean ). The UNESCO-listed Pergamon was once the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon, ruled by a Hellenistic dynasty and held sway over most of western Anatolia. The ruins of Pergamon are among the most popular archaeological sites in Turkey, and there is much to see in two separate areas — although the impressive altar was taken to Germany in the late 19th century, and is now in display in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin . ( updated Oct 2015 )
• 39.2 29.61 45 Çavdarhisar ( Central Anatolia ). Features the impressive ruins of Aizanoi , site of the awesome Temple of Zeus . ( updated Sep 2015 )
• 37.385 27.2565 46 Didyma ( Southern Aegean ). The sanctuary of the then great city of Miletus was once the site of an oracle that was as renowned as that of Delphi. Go there to see the ruins of the colossal Temple of Apollon, adorned with much ancient Greek art. ( updated Oct 2015 )
• 37.939139 27.34075 47 Ephesus ( Central Aegean ). A famous and prosperous polis in Classical times, birthplace of philosopher Heraclitus, now a large world heritage-listed archeological site and one of Turkey's major tourist attractions. ( updated Sep 2015 )
• 38.6667 26.7667 48 Foça ( Central Aegean ). Phocaea was the home of the sailors who ploughed the waves in the far-flung areas of the Western Mediterranean, founding a number of colonies along the coasts of Iberia, Italy, and France, Marseille being one of them. Some believe the offshore islands were the domain of the Sirens, beautiful sea fairies who doomed the sailors to death, found in Homer's Odyssey along with other Greek stories - actually, there was a huge colony of Mediterranean monk seals ( Monachus monachus ) — after which, known as fokia in Greek and fok in Turkish, the town was named in the first place; the seals may or may not have been cofused with sirens. Nowadays the seals are nearly extinct, and only scant ruins of Phocaea exist on a hillside some distance away from the modern town. However, the cobbled streets of Foça are lined by Greek civic architecture of the 19th century throughout the town. ( updated Sep 2016 )
• 39.5356 26.1183 49 Gülpınar ( north of Babakale , Northern Aegean ). The site of the lonely ruins of the Temple of Apollon Smintheion, the major sacred site of the Troad Peninsula extending south of Troy. ( updated Oct 2015 )
• 38.419 27.139 50 Izmir ( Central Aegean ). Ancient Smyrna has always been famous as the birthplace of Homer, thought to have lived here around the 8th century BC. Its agora (central market place) is now an open-air museum. ( updated Sep 2015 )
• 36.6863 27.3742 51 Knidos ( Southern Aegean ). This was the site of the Aphrodite of Knidos , a statue depicting a nude goddess of love created in the 4th century BC, which became so famous that it sparked one of the earliest forms of tourism in the classical world. Nowadays Knidos doesn't have as many visitors, as it lies at the end of a remote peninsula and had its statue long since lost to oblivion. ( updated Oct 2015 )
• 37.5312 27.2792 52 Miletus ( Southern Aegean ). Considered to be the largest and the wealthiest of the Greek cities prior to the Persian invasion of the 6th century BC, Miletus is also the birthplace of mathematician and philosopher Thales. ( updated Oct 2015 )
• 36.5242 30.552 53 Phaselis ( south of Kemer , Lycia ). Once the major harbor of the region, the ruins of Phaselis overgrown by a pine forest are now the destination of many daily cruises departing from the nearby resort towns. ( updated Feb 2016 )
• 37.659 27.2981 54 Priene ( Southern Aegean ). The earliest city built on a grid plan, Priene was once a major harbor on the Ionian coast. Its hillside ruins now overlook a fertile plain, formed by the silting up of its harbor by the Meander River in the meantime. ( updated Oct 2015 )
• 42.0333 35.15 55 Sinop ( Black Sea Turkey ). Σινώπη (Sinōpē), where an important stopover on the Argonauts' journey to Colchis took place, is also the birthplace of king Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus and seminal philosopher Diogenes the Cynic. ( updated Oct 2015 )
• 36.9825 30.464722 56 Termessos ( Pamphylia ). One of the best preserved of the ancient cities of Turkey, 1,665 m (5,463 ft) above sea level among the surrounding travertine mountains of Antalya. Alexander the Great besieged it in 333 BC; he likened the city to an eagle's nest, and in one of few cases, failed to conquer it. ( updated Jan 2021 )
• 41 39.733333 57 Trabzon ( Black Sea Turkey ). Τραπεζοῦς (Trapezous) was the first Greek city reached by Xenophon and the Ten Thousand mercenaries, when fighting their way out of Persia, as described in the Anabasis . Most of the city's defense walls and a few towers remain standing. ( updated Oct 2015 )

Bulgaria [ edit ]

• 42.5 27.466667 60 Burgas ( Bulgarian Black Sea Coast ). The present city's territory features the Aquae Calidae hot springs, already used in the Neolithic between the 6th and 5th millennium BC. In the 4th century BC, Philip II of Macedon conquered the region and, according to legend, he was a frequent guest here. ( updated Oct 2015 )
• 42.65 27.7333 61 Nesebar ( Bulgarian Black Sea Coast ). Founded as a Greek colony, the ancient city of Mesembria was located on a former island, which has sunk under water. However, some remains from the Hellenistic period are extant, including the acropolis, a temple of Apollo, a market place, and a fortification wall, which can still be seen on the north side of the peninsula. ( updated Oct 2015 )
• 42.15 24.75 62 Plovdiv ( Upper Thracian Plain ). Ancient Philippopolis was the historic capital of Thracia. Several ruins can be seen in or near the downtown area, including an aqueduct and a very well preserved theater. ( updated Sep 2015 )
• 42.4167 27.7 63 Sozopol ( Bulgarian Black Sea Coast ). Anciently known as Apollonia Pontica (that is, "Apollonia on the Black Sea", the ancient Pontus Euxinus) and Apollonia Magna ("Great Apollonia"), founded in the 7th century BC by colonists from Miletus. A part of the ancient seaside fortifications, including a gate, have been preserved, along with an amphitheater. ( updated Oct 2015 )
• 43.2167 27.9167 64 Varna ( Bulgarian Black Sea Coast ). Started to exist as a Greek colony named Odessos (Ὀδησσός). Home to the remains of a large bathing complex, and an archeological museum. ( updated Aug 2015 )

Romania [ edit ]

• 44.172997 28.658287 65 Constanța ( Northern Dobruja ). Originally a Greek colony, named Tomis . ( updated Aug 2015 )
• 43.817222 28.582778 66 Mangalia ( Northern Dobruja ). Started to exist as a Greek colony named Callatis in the 6th century BC. Today, it's a rich archeological site, with ruins of the original Callatis citadel and an archeological museum. ( updated Oct 2015 )

Crimea [ edit ]

• 44.61054 33.48899 67 Chersonesus Taurica ( "Taurica" stands for the Crimean Peninsula ) ( Sevastopol , about 3 km from the city centre ). Χερσόνησος was founded by settlers from Heraclea Pontica in Bithynia in the 6th century BC. On the site are various Byzantine basilicas, including a famous one with marble columns. It's listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site .  

Georgia [ edit ]

• 41.638611 41.637222 71 Batumi . This was the Greek colony of Bathys in the land of Colchis, the final destination of Jason and his Argonauts in their pursuit of the "Golden Fleece" around Pontos Axeinos , "the inhospitable sea". While not much remains of Bathys, in 2007 the city has erected a large statue in honour of Medea, mythical Colchian princess and the wife of Jason, depicting her while holding what appears to be the Golden Fleece. ( updated Jan 2016 )
• 42.2774 42.7043 72 Kutaisi . Identified as Aea , King Aeëtes' capital in Colchis, from whence the Golden Fleece was seized. Nearby, the so-called Prometheus's Cave is reported to have amazing stalactites. ( updated Feb 2016 )

Cyprus [ edit ]

• 34.7667 32.4167 73 Paphos . Renowned in antiquity as the birthplace of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. A few miles outside the city, the rock of Aphrodite ( Petra tou Romiou , "Stone of the Greek") emerges from the sea. According to legend, Aphrodite rose from the waves in this strikingly beautiful spot.  

Egypt [ edit ]

• 31.19929 29.90925 74 Alexandria . Egyptian capital until the Islamic conquest, the best known of several towns founded by and named for Alexander the Great , nicknamed by him "my window on Greece". A center of learning in antiquity as well as the seat of the Ptolemaic dynasty.  

Libya [ edit ]

• 32.827778 21.862222 75 Cyrene . Ancient Cyrene was the oldest, largest and the most important of the five Greek cities (" pentapolis ") of the greater Cyrenaica region. Prospered with the trade of its rich agricultural products, the city became one of the most influential centres of ancient Greek culture and art, gave rise to the hedonistic "Cyrenaics" movement, and was nicknamed the "Athens of Africa". Ruins of several temples dedicated to the Greek gods dot the site.  

See also [ edit ]

• Ancient Egypt
• Persian Empire
• Wonders of the Ancient World

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Read This Guide Before You Travel to Athens, Greece

Art, History, Culture lovers cannot complete their life journey unless they include Athens in their magical itinerary. Here’s your curated guide!

Art, History, Culture lovers cannot complete their life journey unless they include Greece in their magical itinerary. For a short stay, Athens is a good place to start! Leave out the fanciful, cosmopolitan island destinations where you rub shoulders with the rich and famous, and start at the Basics – Greece 101 must include Athens and a few nearby mythical destinations.

A small country, 76-times smaller than Canada, 3-times smaller than California, but with a peculiar terrain of mountains and sea, 6,000 islands and islets, a vast coastline of over 13,000 km (compare to the 19,000km of the US coastline), Greece is where you can live a lifetime and still have places to visit and things to do!

Whether a first time visitor, a repeat aficionado, or even a permanent resident there are always new things to see, new cultural explorations and every path you take will lead you to a new wonder.

The City of Athens

So! you made it to Athens! From the Airport to the City Centre it would cost about 35€ by taxi or 11€ by Metro for a ride of less than an hour. Choose your accommodation to suit your budget but opt for a place close to the city center in the region of Acropolis, the Psiri area is a good option as it is within walking distance from all the sites and it is also the center of the Athenian nightlife.

The city would require a minimum stay of 4-5 days just to scratch the surface, but a surface indeed worth scratching! Landmarks, museums , food, and definitely a city for coffee-lovers!

The best time of the year to visit Athens is late spring (April/May) or early autumn (September/October) the weather is moderate and you can avoid the summer crowds. There is walking and climbing ahead so these months are pleasant and you avoid the exhausting summer heat.

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When you are in Athens, you can buy a combined ticket, valid for five days from the day of purchase. The combined ticket allows you to visit all the ticketed archaeological sites in central Athens and it costs 30€. If you are visiting off-season (1/11-31/03), discounted individual prices for each site make more sense to purchase.

On your first day’s expedition, plan to combine the Acropolis, the Acropolis Museum, and then walk through Hadrian’s Arch to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Continue your walk through the city oasis of the National Gardens onto the Syntagma Square.

The Acropolis of Athens

Time required: 1:30 hours minimum, about 15’ climb, bring along water and wear non-slippery shoes.

The Acropolis of Athens is located on a hill of about 150m; it is a complex consisting of fortification walls and temples. The Temple of Parthenon , dedicated to Athena, the city’s patron goddess, the most sacred Temple of the Erechtheion, the Propylaea the magnificent gate and entrance into the Acropolis complex, and the temple of Athena Nike (Victory) the smallest temple.

The first wall built during the 13th century BCE, in the Mycenaean era. The complex reached its peak in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE , especially at the time when Pericles was ruling Athens.

Through the centuries it has survived earthquakes, wars, bombings, alterations and it is still standing to reminds us all of its glorious existence.

What you will not be able to see is the lost statue of Athena Parthenos that decorated the Parthenon Temple. According to Pliny it was around 11.5 metres tall and was made of carved ivory for flesh parts and gold (1140 kilos) for everything else, all wrapped around a wooden core.

The Acropolis Museum

You should plan to spend a couple of hours in the museum. An abundance of displays from the excavations of the slopes and the sanctuaries of the Parthenon and the Acropolis will mesmerize the true art lover. Make sure you spend some time to watch the video explaining the history of the Acropolis, and other audio-visual tours that are seasonally available.

On the top floor exhibited are the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon’s frieze . Replicas of original sculptures found in the British Museum, better known as the Elgin marbles , are also on display.

The café of the Acropolis Museum is lovely, so allow some time to have a coffee or a snack with a view of the Acropolis.

Opening hours vary day by day and throughout the year, so check this link for more information. www.theacropolismuseum.gr (entrance fee 10€)

To whet your appetite enjoy this introductory video on the Acropolis Museum

Tip: wear pants! Some of the museum floors are transparent.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus (Olympieio)

A short walking distance, across a busy avenue will lead you to the archaeological complex that houses the Temple of Olympian Zeus . Spend an hour at least on the site to devour the temple and its surroundings.

It is one of the oldest temples in Athens, and one of the largest ever built in Greece. Its construction was initiated by the tyrant Peisistratus the Young in 515 BCE, but was stopped due to the fall of tyranny.

It resumed in 174 BCE by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and completed by Emperor Hadrian in  124/125 CE. Over the years, a new city wall, a large Late Roman cemetery, and an extensive Byzantine settlement developed in the area. Of the original 104 columns, only 15 remain standing today. A 16th column collapsed during an earthquake in 1852, and the pieces are scattered on the ground. The site is very impressive, and if you walk around you can see Acropolis in the background.

Complete your first day tour more leisurely. Walk through the Athens National Garden onto the Constitution Square. The garden houses 7,000 trees and a multitude of bushes, lovely ponds and you will come across many statues of heroes and politicians. Do not miss the Lord Byron statue. The figure is a remarkable sight, with Greece placing a wreath on his head as a token of honour and gratitude for his contribution to the struggle against the Ottomans.

Take a good night’s rest, as on your next day you should opt to visit the National Archaeological Museum, about 20 minutes’ walk away from the Athens City Centre. Note that if you want to visit the museum properly, you will need around four hours! Plan to spend your entire morning in the museum. Take your lunch break at the nearby garden, it offers a quiet break from the hustle and bustle of Athens.

National Archaeological Museum

The National Archaeological Museum in Athens is the largest museum in Greece. Its vast collections include finds from all around the country. It exhibits five permanent collections, dating from the Prehistoric times to Late Antiquity.

You will have the chance to see ancient Greek sculptures, vases, ornaments, jewelry, tools and everyday objects, an impressive Egyptian collection, and Cypriot antiquities.

Spend the remainder of the afternoon walking through the city center; enjoy the exquisite coffee served in an abundance of coffee shops and rest well for the third day is going to be a walking expedition under the Acropolis ruins.

Start your third day early to get breakfast at one of the Psiri’s cafes and continue through Monastiraki to get to the Agora (Assembly Place) of Athens. You would need over two hours to walk through the ruins, do not forget your water bottle and non-slippery shoes.

The Ancient Agora of Athens and the Museum of the Ancient Agora

In ancient Athens, the Agora was the heart of the city-state .

It was the center of political, artistic, athletic, spiritual, and everyday life of Athens. Along with the Acropolis, this is where Democracy, Philosophy, Theatre and Freedom of Expression and Speech were born.

The highlights of the Agora include the Stoa of Attalos and the temple of Hephaestus.

The Stoa of Attalos is now the Museum of the Ancient Agora, it was quite possibly the first shopping center in history. Entry to the Ancient Agora museum is included with your combined ticket to the Ancient Agora.

The Ancient Agora museum is rather small, but it gives you a great overview of the social and political life in ancient Athens.

A well-preserved Byzantine church, the Church of the Holy Apostles, built in the 10th century CE indicates the continuous function of the Agora as an assembly ground through the centuries.

Kerameikos and the Archaeological Museum of Kerameikos

Visitors often overlook the archaeological site of the Kerameikos, but we strongly suggest you visit for an extra couple of hours and as part of your combined ticket. It is one of the most important areas of ancient Athens and only walking distance from the Agora.

The area expands around the banks of river Eridanus, whose banks are still visible today. Named after the Greek word for pottery, the area originally served as a settlement for potters and vase painters, and was the main production center of the famous Athenian vases. Pottery art refined its skills on those grounds.

It later became a burial ground, which eventually evolved into ancient Athens’ most important cemetery.

The site of Kerameikos contains a part of the Themistoclean Wall, built in 478 BCE to protect the ancient city of Athens from the Spartans.

The Wall divided the Kerameikos into two sections, inner and outer Kerameikos. Inner Kerameikos (inside the city walls) developed into a residential neighborhood, whereas outer Kerameikos remained a cemetery.

Parts of the Wall, together with the gate of Dipylon and the Sacred Gate are well preserved. These gates were the starting points of the Panathenaic procession and the procession of the Eleusinian mysteries respectively.

A short visit to the small museum on the grounds will be a potter’s dream come true!

Hadrian’s Library

From Kerameikos heading back to the city center and the Monastiraki area stop for half an hour to visit the ancient cultural center, known as the Hadrian’s Library.

The Roman emperor Hadrian built this library in 132 CE, and it contained several rolls of papyrus books and was a venue that hosted various cultural events.

In subsequent years, the site hosted different types of Christian churches. During the Ottoman occupation, it became the seat of the Governor. (Image source –stoa.org)

The Roman Agora of Athens and the Tower of the Winds

Across from the library, through easy-to-walk pedestrian-only streets spend the next half hour to visit the Roman Agora and to explore the exterior stone carvings of the Tower of the Winds.

The Roman Agora of Athens was built between 19 – 11 BCE, with donations by Julius Caesar and Augustus . When the Romans invaded Athens in 267 CE, it became the center of the city of Athens.

During the Byzantine period and the Ottoman occupation, newly built houses, churches, the Fethiye mosque, and artisan workshops covered the site of the Roman Agora.

Built in the 1st century BCE by the astronomer Andronicus, entirely of white Pentelic marble, octagonal in shape. An ancient weather observatory was originally used to identify the direction of the wind with sundials on the external walls and a water clock in the interior.

Now you are in the heart of Monastiraki, still under the Acropolis, shop for souvenirs and eat souvlaki at a nearby restaurant. After a long day, walking through the ancient remains of the city, modern Athens is quite relaxing and offers many options to the tourist.

Not Far From Athens: Visit Cape Sounio and the Temple of Poseidon

Dedicate your fourth day to take a trip to the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula, Cape Sounio. It is the last point of the Athenian Riviera, at a 69km distance from Athens. It is best to visit with an organized Tour Operator that offers transportation and guide for the route and site. It is an impressive drive with a lovely view of the sea and of the Saronic Gulf islands.

The temple of Poseidon, the ancient Greek god of the sea, dominates the southernmost tip of Attica, where the horizon meets the Aegean Sea. Perched on the steep rocks of Cape Sounio, the temple is enveloped in myth and historic facts dated from antiquity until the present times.

The unknown architect is probably the same one who built Theseion in the Ancient Agora of Athens. He decorated the temple with sculptures made of marble from Paros Island, which depicted the labors of Theseus as well as battles with Centaurs and Giants.

Notice the Doric columns, count their flutes and you will see that they are less in number than those on other temples of the same period (mid 5th c. BCE), seaside ancient temples have fewer flutes than the inland temples.

Do not get tempted to do the same! The site guards are on the lookout of modern day romantics!

Make the most of your trip to Sounio by indulging in a refreshing swim in the small beach by the foot of the temple of Poseidon or in any one of the neighboring beaches in Legrena or Lavrio. Enjoy some fresh fish and seafood in the local tavernas. Tip – enjoy your swim in the morning and visit the Temple during the afternoon hours – the sunset from the cape is a memory you want to capture for a lifetime.

Exhausted from the long day, the swim, heading back to Athens, the city you just visited for a few days and hope to come back for a more in-depth view. Too many hidden treasures, art through the centuries, from Neolithic to Post and Metamodern, always set in the frame of Nature, a struggle between two gigantic creators the universal and the human, both can claim Excellency!

Opt for an extra day to revisit the city center one more time and if your passion for the arts is still unsated schedule the street art tour , the city of Athens, known as the Mecca of street art, has many surprises! Short trailer produced by alternativeathens.com

Have a safe trip back home and please come back, Greece has been here for millennia and will still be here until you next visit!

For more information regarding your Greek holidays, refer to the Greek National Tourist Board . Their website and local offices are very informative and a valuable tool in your planning process.

Athena And Poseidon’s Contest: How Did Athens Get Its Name?

By Maria Dragatakis BA Classics, Classical Languages and Literature Maria Dragatakis lives and works in Athens, Greece as an International Productions Coordinator for a local theater company. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Classics and Classical Languages and Literatures from Ohio University. Art is her passion which she is been blessed to relish in her daily tasks, in the world of the theater, and the city she lives in with its rich cultural heritage. Her work has taken her around the world in a never-ending journey, always seeking the finer sentiment of euphoria that only art can produce.

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• July 1, 2022
• Europe , Now Boarding , Travel Inspiration

Explore Ancient Greece – A 14 days Travel Itinerary

While there are many tours and itineraries which incorporate everything that Greece has to offer, such as the magical Greek Islands, historic locations as well as adventurous locations, we have put together a 14-day ancient Greece travel itinerary that is ideally suited to those who want to get up close and personal with the many ancient ruins and sites that revolve around the countries impressive and long past. 

This itinerary will be an exciting opportunity to be guided by a local Destination Expert, who can answer your questions along the way, introduce you to these sites from a local perspective and show you some important hidden gems, which are significant to Greece’s historic past. If you are a history buff and have always wanted to get an in-depth look at the various sites scattered throughout Greece, then this 14-day ancient Greece travel itinerary is for you.

Athens, Delphi, Olympia, Meteora & Santorini

While some of these sites can be explored within a short time, this 14-day ancient Greece travel itinerary ensures that you get to see a variety of the best and most important (and most impressive) ancient sites which are located around the country. Two weeks is a perfect amount of time to enjoy your time, take it all in, and still have time to relax in between all the visits, which is a must when it comes to an itinerary like this. There is so much to look forward to on this immersive 14-day itinerary, so let us show you what you can expect to experience.

Day 1: Athens

You will begin your journey in the capital of Athens, a city that is one of the oldest in the world. You will have a chance to unwind, explore the streets of the vibrant Plaka neighborhood, as well as indulge in your first of many Greek dinners that evening with a phenomenal view over the Parthenon. Get a good rest tonight, to set yourself up for the following days of history and adventure.

Day 2: Athens

Today will be an immersive experience of Athens and all that it offers, including a city tour, a trip to the Acropolis, and a visit to the Acropolis Museum, which houses all the artifacts ever found at this site. You will get y=to feast your eyes on the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Propylaea, the Nike Temple, and while exploring the city you can marvel at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the Ancient Agora, and the National Observatory of Athens.

Day 3: Delphi

Today you will make your way to Delphi, a place steeped in history, 3,000 years of it to be specific, and history lovers will be in their element with a guided tour of the Archeological Museum of Delphi, the UNESCO World Heritage Site itself as well as the stories behind it all. This impressive archeological site was recognized for its unique place in Ancient Greek mythology, culture, and Hellenic unity and was the home of the Muses where people consulted the Oracle of Delphi for wisdom before any major decisions were made. There is plenty of information to take in today, so take your time and ask plenty of questions.

Day 4: Olympia

Olympia is one of the most fascinating places on earth and is one that has such a strong historical significance in Greece and throughout the world. No trip to the mainland is complete without a visit to the birthplace of the Olympic Games, which began in the 8th Century BC and lasted until the 4th Century AD. Apart from marveling at one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, you will get a chance to visit the on-site museum, which will provide all the relevant information.

Day 5: Dimoitsana Village

This rural village in the mountains of the Peloponnese was once an important base for revolutionary fighters and is home to an Open-Air Water Powered Museum which can be discovered before some river walking to the town of Stemitsana for an afternoon of leisure. This town is known for its handicrafts and silver smithing, so be sure to wander around and see what gems you can find.

Day 6: Nafplio

This coastal town is a beauty waiting to be discovered, and not only does it have an impressive hilltop fortress that provides excellent coastal views, but the town itself is a joy to wander around, with plenty of bars, restaurants, and local stores to enjoy. Take some time to enjoy the harbor, follow in the footsteps of history and enjoy some local food and drinks in town with stunning vistas.

Day 7: Ancient Mycenae

Today you will visit the archaeological site of Mycenae, which is one of the most famous in the country and will be a fantastic experience for anyone with a keen interest in Greek history. This impressive site was recognized by UNESCO for many reasons, and it is one of the most visited ancient sites of Greece, providing a great insight into Mycenae culture and civilization, which dominated mainland Greece at one time.

Day 8: Travel to Santorini

After many days of historic sites, incredible views, and a lot of information, it is time to take the ferry to Santorini, the first island of the trip. This is an ideal place to relax, unwind and experience a part of Greece which differs greatly from the mainland. This will be the ideal chance to get more into the culture and heritage of Greece, giving you a different perspective of the country compared to the ancient Greek way of life you have come to learn about. Experience the history of winemaking, try local food, and enjoy the stunning sunset over the iconic white and blue hillside houses, before diving right back into your ancient Greece travel itinerary with a visit to the Byzantine Castle ruins.

Day 9: Santorini at your leisure

Today is the day you can pick and choose what you feel like doing, and Santorini is an ideal place to suit everyone’s taste, with a variety of beaches to relax on, activities to enjoy, and sights to see – your day can be enjoyed as you please. Some fantastic options include taking a boat trip to the Santorini caldera, doing some hiking, going swimming at one of the many Blue Flag beaches, or strolling around the local shops taking the day slowly.

Day 10: Hiking the Caldera

This makes for an adventurous day of exploration, history, and discovery, as well as impressive landscapes and sights to behold. Santorini’s volcanic landscape is best-enjoyed on a hiking adventure, and today you will take on the Fira – Oia hike which will take between 2 – 5 hours and can be taken fast or slow. This hike is suitable for everyone and those looking for more of a challenge can take the extra hour to detour to Skaros Rock, before continuing along the 10.5km (6.5 miles) path.

Day 11: Mykonos

Your next island destination is Mykonos, and although it is renowned for its fantastic beaches, vibrant culture, and nature, there are a host of ancient sites you can choose to explore during your free time. Your first day in Mykonos can be enjoyed by taking in the vibes of the narrow streets, enjoying some local food, and perhaps opting for some adrenaline-filled water activities, before taking on some more ancient adventures tomorrow.

Day 12: Mykonos

Today you will visit some of the most unspoiled beaches of the island, which you may even get to enjoy completely alone – a rarity on a Greek island. You can visit the Ano Mera village and its open-air market, and if you have some time today you may wish to take the 30-minute boat ride to visit Ancient Delos which served as the religious center of the Aegean and is said to have been the birthplace of the Greek Gods Apollo and Artemis. You can also opt to explore the Mykonos Ancient folklore museum as well as Kastro Panigraki and the archeological site of Ftelia. 

Day 13: Return to Athens

This is a great way to end your trip, by spending the day how you like, depending on what you missed out on at the beginning or are interested in seeing this time around. Some great options are to visit the National Archaeology Museum, the ancient marketplace of Agora, the fascinating Byzantium Museum, the frescoed Church of the Holy Apostles and witness the Changing of the Guard at Syntagma Square.

Day 14: Departure from Athens

Your ancient Greece travel itinerary is complete, and you will depart from Athens today, no doubt with many memorable experiences under your belt, as well as a better understanding of what life was like in ancient Greece. 

Best suited to Families, solo travelers, couples, and groups with a keen interest in ancient Greek history. 

Jade Poleon

Here you can find some amazing travel stories, to tickle your travel bone or just to dream away. Sometimes we travel without moving.

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Greece sightseeing travel guide: Ancient ruins, rugged mountains, Mediterranean waters

Greece has long been a wildly popular tourist destination for Americans and Europeans alike.

Here are a few must-see places to consider when planning your trip to the capital, Athens, and Greece's rugged mountains and numerous islands .

Towering over Athens, the Acropolis and its iconic Parthenon, is arguably the most revered tourist site in Greece .

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In the mid-fifth century BCE, Pericles called upon the city to embark upon a new construction program: three temples, and later the Theater of Dionysus and the Theater of Herodes Atticus, were built on the promontory overlooking the city. The Theater of Herodes Atticus was restored in 1955 and is used as an outdoor concert venue.

Although the famous sculptures of the Parthenon, the Elgin Marbles, are controversially still held at the British Museum in London, the Parthenon still affords views of ancient sculptures, particularly on the east pediment. Make sure to visit the olive tree that Athena planted to compete with Poseidon.

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During the ravages of World War II, this museum's precious treasures were divided up and buried underground to protect them from destruction. After the museum reopened in 1946, top experts began the painstaking process of reorganizing and displaying the formidable collection.

Heavy on sculpture, pottery and jewelry, it is divided into seven collections: Neolithic and Cycladic, Mycenaean, Geometric and Archaic Sculpture, Classical sculpture, Roman and Hellenistic sculpture, pottery, and the Thira frescoes. Not to be missed are the gold Mask of Agamemnon and the iconic bronzes "Horse with the Little Jockey" and "Poseidon."

This lively and active area serves as the city's flea market, with the streets of Areos, Ifaistou and Pandrosou abounding with interesting and varied shops specializing in a variety of antiques, like books, jewelry, furniture, artwork, tools, and metal and leather goods.

The heart of the market is the Plateia Avyssinias, which is booming with business on Sundays. In addition to antiquing, many shops sell items of interest to tourists, and there are numerous cafés and restaurants nearby to take a break from shopping.

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Tucked away on the southern island of Crete, the 10-mile-long Samaria Gorge runs from Omalos in the White Mountains down to Agia Roumeli on the Libyan Sea.

Its towering mountains and lush forests make for a once-in-a-lifetime hiking experience. Located on the southeastern corner of the island, hikers should bring plenty of water and good footwear, and be prepared for a five- to eight-hour excursion.

Mount Olympus is not merely the name for the highest point in Greece, the home of the Greek panoply of gods, but for the entire mountain massif, 12 miles across.

Located in northern Greece , the Olympus National Park is roughly a two-hour drive south of Thessaloniki. The flora and fauna feature more than 1,700 plant species as well as chamois, boars and deer.

Only experienced hikers should attempt to summit Mytikas Peak, the highest point in Greece. It's a 12-mile round-trip hike with a particularly steep and exposed final ascent and a grueling 6,200 feet of vertical gain.

Located just 50 miles west of Athens, Corinth makes for a perfect day trip.

The city's most impressive feature is the Acrocorinth, a castle fortress atop a massive rock overlooking the city. The American School's Corinth Excavations began here in 1929, and it is widely regarded as one of the most important medieval castles in Greece.

Nearby, one can walk the ruins of the Temple of Apollo and view the dramatic Corinth canal, passing through two rocky cliff faces.

The Blue Caves of Zakynthos are a bit off the beaten track but well worthy of a visit.

Located on an island off the nation's southwest coast, they feature some of the most stunning blue water and rugged rock formations in Europe. The nearby beach resorts of Tsilivi and Alykes offer fun in the sun and ample water sports opportunities, while Laganas is famed for its spirited nightlife.

Original article source: Greece sightseeing travel guide: Ancient ruins, rugged mountains, Mediterranean waters

I spent 4 days in Athens, Greece. Here are 10 things that were worth it and 5 I'd skip next time.

• I recently spent four days in Athens, Greece, while traveling around Europe . 
• Stumbling upon the National Garden was a great treat, and I loved learning about the Acropolis. 
• On the other hand, I'm not sure the Roman Agora or Hadrian's Library are worth a visit . 

In October, I traveled to Athens, Greece , for the first time since I was 18 months old. 

I spent four days exploring some of the city's amazing landmarks and sites. But even though I didn't pay for all of the attractions — because some are free for EU citizens 25 and under — there are a few I wouldn't spend time on again. 

The Greek city just made Delta Air Line's list of most-searched summer destinations for 2024, so if you're currently planning a trip, here's everything that was worth the time and money and the few things I'd skip on my next trip.

I was glad I happened upon Athens National Garden.

I happened upon the National Garden kind of by accident when I was looking for some green space to run in. It's completely free and perfect for a walk, jog, or run.

The space is very peaceful and also has ponds with lots of turtles. I ended up going back a few days later to sit and read in the shade.

The Acropolis is definitely worth it, especially in the morning.

The Acropolis, which I'd consider the main tourist attraction in Athens, is a must-visit.

The citadel contains several ancient buildings, most notably the Parthenon. I was told to start waiting in line around 7:30 a.m. (it opens at 8), and it was well worth the time and effort.

It got busy — and hot — really quickly. I couldn't imagine going any later, and I ended up being able to take a nap afterward anyway. 

I wasn't too sure about Mount Lycabettus, but the views won me over.

I planned to go to Mount Lycabettus (the highest point in Athens) for sunset one night. I thought I'd allotted enough time, but everyone seemed to have the same idea since there was a huge line when I arrived.

Truthfully, I was a bit disappointed by the tram ride, and when I got to the top, I was overwhelmed by how many people there were. But the view made it worth it.

I ended up staying for dinner and had a delicious meal of Greek salad , moussaka, and white wine for about $16.

I'm so glad I paid to run along the track at Panathenaic Stadium.

The stadium is cool on its own — it dates back to 600 BC and is the only marble stadium in the world. But I went early in the morning, during the designated running hours of 7:30 to 9 a.m., and got to run around the track.

It's only about $10 to enter (I paid the student price of $5), and it was one of my favorite things I did on the trip.

Kerameikos Archaeological Site is one of the coolest cemeteries I've ever seen.

I had pretty low expectations going in having seen my fair share of cemeteries , but I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

The tombstones were pillar-shaped, and there were great views of the Parthenon.

If you're doing the Acropolis, make sure to swing through Plaka afterward.

It's worth walking around the neighborhood surrounding the Acropolis.

There are great taverns with traditional Greek food and places to buy all the souvenirs your heart desires. I really enjoyed wandering around and exploring some of the picturesque side streets.

Even after seeing the real deal, I got a lot out of the Acropolis Museum.

I'm not usually a big museum person, but the Acropolis Museum is definitely worth a visit.

I went after I'd already seen the landmark, and it gave me good context. It houses many artifacts that were excavated from the site, and beneath the museum is an in-progress excavation of ancient Athens.

Areopagus Hill provided stunning views for free.

Behind the Acropolis is a prominent rock outcropping. It can be a slippery and steep walk up, but the views of the Acropolis and the surrounding area are breathtaking.

Entrance to the hill and its surrounding park is also completely free.

I could feel the history at the Ancient Agora of Athens.

The Athenian Agora is one of the best-known examples of a traditional Greek meeting place. It had great views of the Acropolis and was beautifully adorned with trees and other ruins.

I was especially impressed by how well the Temple of Hephaestus was preserved. There's also a museum, and the second floor has a nice balcony where you can look out over the agora

I'm glad I swung by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Many of the attractions in Athens date back centuries, but the tomb is much more contemporary.

Dedicated to Greek soldiers killed in war, the tomb itself is visually quite simple. But there are guards that stand in traditional garb, which reminded me of Buckingham Palace .

It's also pretty central — right next to the National Garden — so I didn't have to go out of the way to see it.

Next time, I'd skip Monastiraki Flea Market and shop in Plaka instead.

I was excited to go to a flea market but was quite disappointed to find that this one didn't sell anything much different than the rows of stores in Plaka.

I will say that the square near the market had good views of the Parthenon, but I was able to see similar angles from other places in the city. 

After seeing the Athenian Agora, I'd skip the Roman Agora on future trips.

In contrast to the Athenian Agora, the Roman version wasn't much to write home about.

The gate at the front is kind of cool, but I think could just look from the outside instead of wasting time going in. 

Hadrian's Library didn't wow me.

I didn't find the "library" all that special.

The ruin isn't really a building, just pillars. And like the Roman Agora, you could easily just peek through the gates to get a good sense of the place.

I wanted to love the Temple of Zeus, but I was a little underwhelmed.

I was excited to see a temple devoted to the King of the Gods, but it was kind of disappointing.

To be fair, the temple was under construction when I went. But I felt that there wasn't a ton to look at regardless.

The Lyceum of Aristotle isn't all that exciting and it's far from everything else.

The original lyceum was destroyed. All that's left of it is a few ruins that were discovered about 30 years ago.

It's relatively new since it wasn't opened to the public until 2009, but I felt like it wasn't worth the walk since it was far from most of the other landmarks .

This story was originally published on November 12, 2023, and most recently updated on May 1, 2024. 

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